Music for LONDON | Bowtown- Bollywood Band

Bollywood Band based in London

Botown Bollywood Band Live Performance

Chart-topping Botown is a multicultural London-based band that reboots Bollywood classics with a shot of late ’60 Soul and Funk.

Dubbed Bollywood’s answer to Sly & The Family Stone, Botown is a fusion band like no other. It’s an exciting culture-clash musical experience that takes you on a musical trip from Memphis to Mumbai. Imagine a legendary ’60s Soul band playing Bollywood music – that’s Botown!

Since their first gig in 2009, the band has developed a large and loyal following across the UK. Taking in venues in many non-Asian areas across the UK, Botown is committed to uniting and engaging the wider communities of the UK with its multicultural sound that combines Soul power with Bollywood glamour.

Their single ‘Roop Tera’ went #1 on the BBC AN Official Asian Download Chart last year. And their debut album entered the Top 10 in the Amazon Funk charts. Other tracks have hit the top 10 in the iTunes World Music charts. Tracks from their debut album are often heard on the BBC Soap EastEnders.

In July 2011, Botown were selected to represent the culture and music of London’s South East Asian community in the London 2012 Open Weekend – Celebrating one year of going to the Games with London. In Oct 2013, Botown performed for The British Asian Trust, one of the Prince’s Trust charities set up by HRH The Prince of Wales.

Botown is seen as a musical bridge between cultures and is the only band in the world doing what they do. Asian newspaper Eastern Eye has credited them with inventing a brand new genre of music.

Botown Live is a must-see ‘adrenaline rush experience’ and has led the way in entering venues previously closed to Asian acts. The band have performed sell-out shows at prestigious venues like London’s legendary Jazz Cafe and typically non-Asian venues like the Granville Theatre in the seaside town of Ramsgate.

Working together to use music to unite communities and cultures, the band are well known for getting non-Asian audiences to sing in Hindi and has a growing non-Asian fan base. But as well as bringing traditional Bollywood music to a non-Asian audience, Botown is also bringing Soul music to Asian audiences in the UK with high-profile performances such as headlining the London Mayor’s Diwali show in Trafalgar Square in 2010

Testimonials

At last, a serious desi band who all play their instruments and can hold their own in the live arena! Like George Clinton having a party with Mohammed Rafi in an illegal Mumbai drinking den… it’s a party everyone wants an invite to!

Bobby Friction

BBC Asian Network

Asian soul and funk outfit Botown has taken a bunch of Bollywood’s best-loved anthems and given them the ‘Shaft’ treatment, re-styling the compositions with Seventies-era Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield very much in mind. Tracks like Laila and Jhalak have the sort of vintage grit that soundtracked Blacksploitation cops and robbers. Still, frontman Ajay Srivastava’s Hindi singing bursts with feeling, putting Botown way above the usual kitsch than this sort of thing often descends into. Elsewhere, Jamaican influences seep into the mix.

Daily Express

Botown at the Jazz Cafe were brilliant! A tight and funky band with a warm and rapturous crowd! We look forward to their return.

Jazz Cafe

Botown will take you back to the days of brilliant live gigs with its talented live musicians who bring out the funkier side of Bollywood classics.

Eastern Eye

Botown was a great success. We sold out, and the audience loved it. Ajay had everyone rocking in the aisles. We even had to pull people off the stage!

Watermans

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